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pump

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Medical, Legal, Acronyms, Idioms, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia 0.01 sec.

pump

Any device for moving liquids and gases, or compressing gases.

Some pumps, such as the traditional lift pump used to raise water from wells, work by a reciprocating (up-and-down) action. Movement of a piston in a cylinder with a one-way valve creates a partial vacuum in the cylinder, thereby sucking water into it.

Gear pumps, used to pump oil in a car's lubrication system, have two meshing gears that rotate inside a housing, and the teeth move the oil. Rotary pumps contain a rotor with vanes projecting from it inside a casing, sweeping the liquid round as they move.



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? Mentioned in ? References in classic literature
 
Since you have done my wife and myself the honour of drinking our healths and happiness, I suppose I must acknowledge the same; though, as you all know me, and know what I am, and what my extraction was, you won't expect a speech from a man who, when he sees a Post, says "that's a Post," and when he sees a Pump, says "that's a Pump," and is not to be got to call a Post a Pump, or a Pump a Post, or either of them a Toothpick.
Hard Times by Dickens, Charles View in context
The hotel, where we rejoined our family, lurked behind a group of lofty elms, and we drank at the town pump before it just for the pleasure of pumping it.
My Literary Passions by Howells,William Dean View in context
As we approached the Shimerdas', we heard the frosty whine of the pump and saw Antonia, her head tied up and her cotton dress blown about her, throwing all her weight on the pump-handle as it went up and down.
My Antonia by Cather, Willa View in context
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